31.8.16

Now that we've seen the track list for Atom Miraiha No. 9, everyone's talking about Buck-Tick. But does Mr. Sakurai still yearn for those days of freedom last year when he cast loose all the constraints of his musical marriage? If the song "BOY: Septem Peccata Mortalia" is any indication, the answer to that question is yes. Hell, it almost looks as if this song title is one that he scrapped from using with The Mortal simply because he didn't have enough time to fit it in.

Therefore, we thought we'd do a little check-in, and see how the rest of The Mortal's members are doing...what are they doing without Mr. Sakurai's fame shining a spotlight on them and raining the gold coins of fangirls into their pockets? How are they managing to put roofs over their heads and food on the table?

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Well, Jake, it seems, is doing the same as ever - Guniw Tools continue apace with their revival, but Jake does not appear to want to be involved with Asaki in a musical sense, and therefore, he's not involved in the Guniw Tools project. Instead, he's busy advertising guitar effects on YouTube. This video just broke 40,000 views! Let's help him break 50,000. And maybe when you're done with this one, you'll go watch the one about the Purple Plexifier.

How much money does this kind of job pay?Enough to keep him drinking craft beer, clearly. Hang in there Jake! We know there's more beer in your future, and we'll hope there's more Acchan in there too.

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So then, what about Akiyama Takahiko? We mentioned his jazz-drummer sensibilities in our article The Cacophony of Mortality...well, turns out, the man's got a history as a jazz drummer, with this crazy hyper-powered instrumental jazz-rock band, Fresh! Sure, this video is old. But if you like Guniw Tools and you like Imai, you ought to watch this video, for sure. Past the 2 minute mark it starts getting really good...and see if you can spot the cameo by off-the-beaten-track live house Shin-Daita Fever (which may or may not show up in the venue guide we're currently in the process of writing...shh don't tell anyone yet! You're not supposed to know!)

More recently, Akiyama has been involved in a series of metal-themed live gigs, the Metal-Kai, involving various members of various bands who get together to jam their favorite heavy metal songs. We haven't been, but we're heard from Mortal fans who have. The consensus? It's heavy. It's metallic. It's Metalocalypse-approved. If you're a metal fan in Japan, by all means, check it out.

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And if you're a metalhead, you should definitely check out Miyo Ken! If you think instrumental power-rock jazz is unusual taste, try out Miyo Ken's instrumental math metal band, Seiten no Hekireki! We'd have liked to post a video, rather than this shitty photo, but it appears they have no videos on YouTube. If you go see them live, though, you can buy one of their demo CDs for the low, low price of 500 yen.

But if you just can't get enough of Miyo Ken and need a band who has videos on YouTube and other places, and you also liked minus (-) and maybe Portishead, then Miyo Ken's other dark side project u crack irigaru are the band for you! Pairing dark, hard sounds with ethereal female vocals, this band manage to capture both the Nu-Goth and hipster-electro sounds without quite sounding derivative of either. If you enjoyed the vocals on the minus (-) song "The Victim," u crack irigaru may sound eerily familiar - the vocalist is the same.

Of course, those of your with more sparkly proclivities may now be straining to point out that in addition to the above dark grungy indies projects, Miyo Ken is also now an official courtier in the kingdom of Vaniru's Gothique Prince Leoneil...but we're not going to talk about that right now except to say that, to you fans who asked...Leoneil he is Acchan-chan's secret love child, duh, of course. Haven't I always told you, everything you read on the internet is true???

To those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about...please, for the love of god, don't look it up. If we ignore them maybe they'll go away. Actually, we take it back - do go look it up. Vaniru are at least the best Buck-Tick copyband since B-T-K (Sorry, Maoh!)

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So, that leaves one member of The Mortal as yet un-checked-in with. So let's go check him out. I mean check him in. I mean check up thinking time listen to the music? ...whoops, that was Imai. What I mean to say is, what of the only member of The Mortal to possess fashion sense edging up on the ugliness edginess of Imai? Yes, friends, we're talking about My Way My Love's own Murata Yukio... we checked in with him, too, and we found out that gosh darnit, he's written the hit single of the summer.

This song, my friends. Words, music, and arrangement by Murata Yukio. Yeah, the same one who wrote "Pain Drop." Yeah, the same one who wrote "Barbaric Man." This is currently, as we speak, the top of the Japanese singles charts, so make sure you watch the entire video.

If the idea that musicians who've worked with Sakurai also work with the likes of the people above makes you angry, just remember: every mouthbreathing fanboy who buys this single is paying royalties to your very favorite Pain Drop composer. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and this is what indie musicians do for money, kids.

But think of the champagne he's drinking, as we speak! Maybe next time, he'll be the one who takes Acchan-chan out to dinner. Maybe tomorrow, when he gets paid, he'll finally be able to afford a second pair of pants.

26.8.16

And now, we bring you ALL THE NEWS about Buck-Tick's forthcoming single, New World, and their forthcoming 20th studio album, Atom Miraiha No. 9! The jacket art and track list for the album have been released, and they're intriguing, to say the least.

Here's the jacket art:

[Limited Edition]

[Regular Edition]

...why is the picture bigger on the regular edition cover than the limited edition cover? Don't ask, folks. Don't ask. But more to the point, as one Blog-Tick reader has already pointed out, this cover demonstrates excellent use of an airplane stock photo. Here's the original photo!

Wow, much stock. Very photo! And now let's take bets on whether this cover was designed by Sakaguchi Ken or Akita Kazvnori...because the web site did not bother to tell us, because they assume (probably correctly) that most fangirls are more interested in judging the band members by their appearances than in judging albums by their covers.

In general, I prefer not to speculate on the meanings of the song titles before listening to the lyrics, but since I know y'all are busting out of your knickers, here are a few notes:

"Furasuko no Besshu" would appear to mean "A different kind of flask." Not that this really answers any questions, so let's wait for the whole song, shall we. "Cum uh sol nu" is no language known to the internet, which makes me feel certain it's a Buck-Tickistani proverb, although it might just be re-romanized garbled katakana.

"Odoru Atomu" means "dancing atom" - there are all kinds of connotations from the fact that it's "atomu" in katakana rather than the Japanese word "genshi," but I'm going to save that kind of thing for the notes. As for Pinoa Icchio, I'm tending to think it's Imai making up some fake Italian, but we'll see.

"Bi" means "beauty" or "aesthetic." It's a central concept of Japanese art and design. More on this in the translation notes.

"Septem Peccata Mortalia" - if you know this one without having to look it up, I'm guessing you're either a graduate of goth school, or you still remember your high school Latin, or you like to listen to and/or sing Medieval church music (or perhaps you are just well educated.) This, my friends, is a major holdover from The Mortal: the seven deadly sins!

"Jukai" literally means "sea of trees," but the most famous "Jukai" in Japan is the infamous Aokigahara Jukai, otherwise known as the Suicide Forest. More on this in the translation notes but in the meantime, take a drink in honor of none so goth mortality and songs by Hoshino Hidehiko.

"Mirai ga Odoru" means "The Future Dances." This is clearly a reference back to "Odoru Atomu" earlier on the album.

"Manjusaka" is another name for the higanbana, otherwise known as the cluster amaryllis or hurricane lily. I already wrote a sizable note on this one for Sakurai's solo song "Tensei," so go check it out if you're interested.

A Cuba Libre is a cocktail similar to a rum & coke. Methinks Imai's been drinking too much at his sister-in-law's bar.

"Ai no Souretsu" means "The Funeral Procession of Love." But if this isn't a direct reference to Auto-Mod's classic song "Toki no Souretsu," ("The Funeral Procession of Time") I'll eat my goth top hat whole. Back in the 80's, Auto-Mod's frontman Genet also sponsored a series of live events called Toki no Souretsu showcasing the hottest indie goth bands of the time. Later, a Toki no Souretsu compilation album was released...and then in the early 2000's, Genet resurrected the event, featuring 80's indie goth bands who'd reunited after years of silence (and some of them reunited specifically for this event). Basically, this is a phrase with some longstanding cred in the history of Japanese goth, and if Sakurai doesn't know that...come on, of course he knows.

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But meanwhile, while we speculate as to the contents of the album, Victor is all hot to sell us on the contents of the single. And yes, I know. "New World" sounds like Sakurai musing some very poetic, sad, existentialist things over an oddly spastic, incongruous soundtrack of hyper-fast Eurobeat, EDM, a mashup of the guitar riff from "Solaris" and the melody line from "Bran-New Lover," and maybe a teeny tiny bit of psytrance, if we're being generous. But...it's a single, kids. And it's being released from Victor. Its purpose in life is to try and convince the popular kids that Buck-Tick is in fact boring enough to be worth listening to. Which may be a futile mission, but let's be charitable and let Victor do their thing.

However...if you want to get angry about the fact that all the songs on DIQ bonus DVD are songs owned by Victor, and that they're inflicting yet another video of "Aku no Hana" on us just so they can make a few more yen in royalties, rather than showing us what we actually want to see (which was "Cyborg Dolly" and "Kyouki no Deadheat," amirite kids?)...then by all means, get angry. Maybe if there are enough of us we can gang up and chuck "Aku no Hana" out of Buck-Tickistan forever! It's certainly overstayed its welcome.

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Anyhow, last but certainly not least, the details of special editions and goodies for the single and album have now been announced!The single New World will come with the following goodies, if you buy it at one of the following chain record stores:Tower Records - an original clear file folderHMV - an original fridge magnetTsutaya - a stickerVictor Online Shop - a giant-ass poster.The album Atom Miraiha No. 9 limited edition will include the following extras:- A "special package" (heh heh heh)- 48 pages of photobook in which the band members will be Photoshopped as smooth and shiny as K-pop idols- A DVD or BluRay of the music video for "New World"- A chance to enter a lottery to win some kind of special prize (I hope it's the jacket Mr. Sakurai wore in the New World PV!)- A coupon for a high-resolution download of the songs...but who the fuck needs this if you already bought the album?And if you purchase the album at one of the following chain record shops, you'll get one of the following special awesome free goodies:Tower Records - a big giant badge (4.4 centimeters, yo!)HMV - an original fridge magnet (deja vu!)Tsutaya - a sticker (deja vu all over again!)Victor Online Shop - a giant-ass poster (even more deja vu!).If you would like to reserve either the single or the album from Cayce, please contact us at themadaristocrat at gmail. We're getting ours from Tower!Also, Buck-Tick will be appearing in the following magazines:Rolling Stone Japan (interview with Sakurai and Imai)Ongaku to Hito (cover feature on Sakurai and Imai)PHY(cover feature of the whole band)It would seem that the gossip rags are going to town on the fact that Sakurai and Imai have reunited their marriage. Anyhoo, if you'd like to purchase any of these magazines through Cayce, just shoot us an email!

20.8.16

Hey folks - this is just a reminder that the general admission presale lottery for tickets to Buck-Tick's Atom Miraiha No. 9 tour is open until Tuesday, August 23rd, at 2PM Japan time...meaning that it's not too late for you to get your tickets! Lots of Blog-Tickers are doing it, so why not succumb to peer pressure and try it yourself? If you're interested in getting tickets to this tour and you'd like my help in getting them, please contact me within the next two days, otherwise I will not be able to help you!

11.8.16

As many of you may have noticed, the jacket art for Buck-Tick's forthcoming single New World has now been released, dispelling entirely the hope that this would be a Disney cover single. Nope, kids - far from a Disney cover single, judging by the jackets alone, we'd be tempted to guess that this is Buck-Tick trying to imitate In Death It Ends for the sake of all those broken-hearted fangirls of The Mortal.

These jackets hit all the sexy buzzpoints of the new generation of minimal wave, witch house and self-styled "post-punk" bands that all the hipsters are listening to these days: an ultra-washed-out monochrome color scheme, blur and lens flare effects to make the band members look mysterious, some invocation of occult symbology through the moon phase motif, and of course, a stylized font designed to make Roman letters look like cuneiform characters.

All they need now are some Killstar collaboration tour t-shirts! I recommend this design...can't you just see Buck-Tick's name on this one? (Yes, I stole this photo from some online shop site, sorry not sorry.)

However, when we listen to the the trailer for "New World" that was posted online at the same time as the album jackets were released, it starts to sound less likely that Buck-Tick are indeed giving in to their inner hipster goths...but for the synth line, none of this sounds remotely like cold wave. In fact, if there were more talking animals involved, it almost could be a Disney song.

Then again, it's been my observation that these little snippets of new songs the band post prior to releases are often quiet misleading about what the whole song actually sounds like, so I wouldn't take too much away from this except that Buck-Tick will probably not show up on Stereo Embers "The Next 20 Post-Punk Bands You Should Listen To" any time soon, which means we're safe for now...because if you can tell any of these bands apart from each other by either sound or visuals, you're already ten steps ahead of me.

And that's all the Buck-Tick news for now. But before we leave, we'd like to call your attention to another Disney-related item that is surely well beloved in Buck-Tickistan. Friends, if you have not seen this yet, you must watch it as soon as you can, preferably with the aid of consciousness-altering substances, because this, my friends, is the one and only collaboration between animation titan Walt Disney and surrealist savant Salvador Dali, and it's every bit as weird as you'd expect it to be.

One-of-a-kind rock band Buck-Tick got their start in the mid 1980's as an iconic product of Japan's "band boom." Maintaining the same lineup of members for the entirety of their 30-year career, Buck-Tick have had an enormous influence on the subsequent development of Japanese rock and rock-n-roll culture.

In 1989, the band scored their first chart-topping hit with their third album, Taboo. Just two years after their debut, they joined the ranks of Japan's top artists, playing to sold-out crowds at the Nippon Budoukan and the Tokyo Dome.

Never content to rest on their laurels, the band followed their initial success by deepening their pop sensibilities with a darker worldview, and expanding into more experimental territory, taking chances on radical new performance styles and technology in a process of continuing evolution.

In 2012, the band established their own new label, Lingua Sounda, in conjunction with their 25th anniversary. To celebrate the anniversary, the band held a festival on September 22nd and 23rd entitled "Buck-Tick Fest 2012 on Parade" in Chiba Port Park at an outdoor venue designed specially for the occasion. In addition to two hour-long headlining performances by Buck-Tick, the festival also featured a complete roster of artists who contributed tracks to Buck-Tick's second tribute cover album, Parade II -Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick.

In 2013, a double-feature documentary film about the 25th anniversary, The Buck-Tick Phenomenon, was released in cinemas throughout Japan to great acclaim.

In 2016, the band returned to their original label, Victor Entertainment, after 20 years of work with other labels. New World, the band's first single since rejoining Victor, was released on September 21st, followed by a new album, Atom Miraiha No. 9 on September 28th.

In 2017, Buck-Tick celebrated their 30th anniversary, and were awarded the Inspiration Award Japan, a special prize given to music artists who have had an outsize influence on the development of pop music in Japan. The band accepted their award on September 27th at MTV Japan's live music video awards show Video Music Awards Japan 2017 -The Live-,” where they also gave a special live performance.

On September 20th, the band released a 30th anniversary best album entitled Catalogue 1987-2016. Following this, on September 23rd and 24th, the band performed a pair of concerts, Buck-Tick 2017 The Parade -30th Anniversary, "Fly Side" and "High Side," at Tokyo's Odaiba Special Outdoor Event Area J, attracting a crowd of more than 20,000 people over two days. Then on November 15th, the band released its first 30th anniversary single, Babel.

Before releasing Babel, the band embarked on an 18-stop national tour, The Day in Question 2017, opening at Omiya Sonic City on October 21st and featuring a stadium performance at Takasaki Arena in their home prefecture of Gunma, before concluding with a pair of finale concerts at the Nippon Budoukan on December 28th and 29th.

In 2018, the band released another single, Moon Tell Me Goodbye, on February 21st, followed by a new album, No. 0, on March 14th. The band are currently in the middle of a new tour, Buck-Tick 2018 Tour No. 0, to promote the new album.

One-of-a-kind rock band Buck-Tick got their start in the mid 1980's as an iconic product of Japan's "band boom." All hailing from the small rural town of Fujioka, Gunma Prefecture, the five band members met while still in high school, bonding over a mutual love of records during informal gatherings at the home of band founder, lead guitarist and main songwriter, Hisashi Imai. Though the band's original lineup featured a different vocalist and Atsushi Sakurai on drums, after graduating high school and moving to Tokyo to pursue their dream of becoming professional musicians, the band soon switched Sakurai to vocals, and bassist Yutaka Higuchi recruited his older brother Toll Yagami to play drums instead. The band have maintained the same five members since that time.

After being signed to the indie label Taiyo Records, the band rocketed to stardom, making their major label debut on Victor Entertainment within a year, and taking the Japanese music scene by storm with their infectious punk melodies, spiky bleached hair, bold costumes, and theatrical stage shows. Within two years, they topped the charts with their third album, Taboo. Recorded in London, Taboo marked a turning point for the band, from a teenage pop sensation into something darker. Buck-Tick continued into darker territory with their next album, Aku no Hana (The Flowers of Evil), named for the poetry of Charles Baudelaire.

Never content to rest on their laurels, Buck-Tick followed their initial runaway success with a push into more experimental territory, spending many more hours in the studio to create ever deeper, more layered records. Koroshi no Shirabe -This is NOT Greatest Hits- (The Song of Murder), a self-cover album featuring heavily reworked versions of the band's earlier material, was followed by another album, Kurutta Taiyou (Crazy Sun), now regarded as a classic of Japanese rock and roll. From this album forward, vocalist Sakurai took a greater role in the band's creative output, penning darker, more introspective lyrics based on personal experience rather than the romantic fantasies of the band's previous works. While lead guitarist Imai remained the band's main composer and creative director, rhythm guitarist Hidehiko Hoshino also began to contribute more to the songwriting, cementing the band's mature sound.

Over the next two decades, Buck-Tick continued to evolve, exploring a diversity of genres ranging from new wave to industrial, shoegaze, punk, electronica, dreampop, surf rock, rap, Latin dance, goth, and symphonic metal. Drawing on both Western and Eastern influences, the band developed a unique style instantly recognizable despite their continuous genre-hopping. Layers of minimalist riffs, melodies, and electronic tracks synergize into an immersive, kaleidoscopic sonic experience far more than the sum of its parts. Tied together with the tight grooves of the Higuchi brothers' bass and drums and the bold simplicity of Hoshino's rhythm guitar, Buck-Tick's songs feature Imai's instantly memorable guitar licks like a second vocalist, even as Imai often adds eccentric backing vocals to Sakurai's rich baritone lead vocals. Cosmic themes of love and death abound in the piquant, poetic lyrics, which traverse as many genres as the music, overflowing with inspiration from art, literature, and philosophy.

The result is something utterly original, which continues to exert a tremendous influence on the progress of Japanese rock music to this day. Maintaining a large and wildly devoted cult following, the band continue to perform for sold-out crowds at Japan's most well-respected music venues, and are regularly cited as an influence by younger Japanese artists. A number of Buck-Tick's songs were also used as themes for popular anime series, expanding the band's fame internationally among fans of Japanese pop culture in dozens of countries around the world.

The band's recent achievements include establishment of their own new record label, Lingua Sounda, in 2012, and a 25th anniversary festival held in September 2012 at a special outdoor venue in Chiba Port Park, featuring an all-star roster of artists who contributed tracks to Buck-Tick's second tribute cover album, Parade II -Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick-. In 2013, a double-feature documentary film, The Buck-Tick Phenomenon, was released to great acclaim in theaters across Japan.

In 2016, Buck-Tick returned to their original label, Victor Entertainment, after 20 years of separation, releasing a single, New World, followed by Atom Miraiha No. 9, their first new studio album since 2014.

In September 2017, the band cemented their legacy as Japanese rock legends by celebrating their 30th anniversary with a two-day outdoor concert series, Buck-Tick 2017 The Parade -30th Anniversary, "Fly Side" and "High Side," held on Tokyo's Odaiba Island before a crowd of more than 20,000 people. The next week, the band took to the stage again at MTV Japan's Video Music Japan awards to accept the Inspiration Award Japan, a special prize given to music artists who have had an outsize influence on the development of pop music in Japan.

In October 2017, the band embarked on a national tour, The Day in Question 2017, performing a selection of hits from their back catalog to celebrate their anniversary, and featuring a stadium performance at Takasaki Arena, near the band's home town.

Entering their 31st year of major label activities, the band show no sign of slowing down. Two new singles, Babel and Moon Sayonara wo Oshiete (Moon Tell Me Goodbye), preceded the band's 21st studio album, No. 0, and the band are currently in the middle of a new tour, Buck-Tick 2018 Tour No. 0, to promote the new album.